As far as Main Events and
Kathy Duva are concerned, the big fight card this weekend takes place at Temple
University at McGonigle Hall where the latest installment of “Fight Night” on
NBC Sports Network showcases heavyweight hopeful Bryant Jennings against Bowie
Tupou. Oh, and there's no fight card in Las Vegas, right?

“None that I'm going to be
at,” said Kathy Duva with a laugh, knowing full well that most of the
attention this week will be diverted to the fourth go-round between Manny
Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez at the MGM Grand.

But going up against
higher-profile shows on other networks (and this week’s offering from Top Rank
is on pay-per-view) is nothing new for Main Events and NBCSN.

“Y’ know, we were up against
HBO and [Julio Cesar] Chavez on June 16th. We were up against [Danny]
Garcia and [Erik] Morales on March 24th,” she pointed out. “These
were all dates that were announced ahead of time, every one of them. What am I
going to do? Here's the thing: Our show is going to be replayed at 1 a.m. So
for people on the West Coast, you have the rare opportunity to watch Pacquiao
and then tune into our show and see what happened. For people who are on the East
Coast, they can either TiVo one and watch the other - of course, we prefer you
watch us - but we understand if people want to TiVo our show. And the timing of
it works. You can watch our show while the prelims are going on and we'll be
off the air at 12, when generally the Pacquiao fight is generally starting to
take place. So there's a lot of ways to watch it but we really want to
emphasize on this one that at 1 a.m. with replay, that's a nice opportunity for
people who have gotten together to watch boxing on the other side of the
country, at least to not miss anything.”

In the age of TiVo/DVR, it's
more convenient than ever for viewers to watch multiple boxing cards that take
place on the same night. Still, for a card like this, it's impossible not to be
overshadowed when the likes of the “Pac-Man” is in action. As the Filipino icon
waffled on his date over the summer, NBC and Main Events had already announced
they would be staging their card on December 8th. When Pacquiao
decided on this date, it was like they had pulled the trigger in a game of
Russian Roulette and, well...y’ know. But according to Duva, boxing fans watch
more than just the marquee events.

“We're finding that we're
doing really well. I think, in some respects, it might actually draw more
attention to our show,” says Duva. “People who are really fans, they like
the fights; they want to see them. They're checking the boxing websites to find
out about the big fights that are going on, seeing stories about our show as
well and they're saying, ‘Hey, I want to see that.’ We're finding that our
replays are coming in really strong. The replay that comes on at one o’clock
with the younger male audience. I suspect that people on the West Coast after
watching a big fight on Showtime or HBO or pay-per-view, they are tuning into
our fight. On the night of the [Zab] Judah fight, in particular on March 24th,
when he fought Vernon Paris, when Garcia fought Morales, I see the ratings in
20-minute increments. You could actually see the moment when the Garcia fight
ended and everyone tuned in to watch Judah. And in that one, the timing worked
out very well for us.

“What I've been told is that
on January 19th, which is our next show of next year, where we're
going to have Sergey Kovalev fight Gabriel Campillo in another tremendous
fight, we're up against Showtime and HBO on that night. So I've given up the
idea that we're ever going to get a Saturday to ourselves,” she says,
chuckling. “I take it as a compliment that they're competing with us and I
don't know if we're hurting their ratings. I know they're not hurting ours. So
NBC's delighted and another thing we know is that when they show our reruns, frequently,
they are the highest rated show of the day on that network. So people are
seeing the fights. Whether they see it live or two weeks later, it really
doesn't matter to me and I don't think it matter much to NBC either.”

Helping matters at the turnstiles
is that most of the fighters on this card are from Philly.

Duva says, “I don't think
it's going to hurt our gate; believe it or not. I really don't. I think that,
first of all, nothing against Manny Pacquiao or Marquez but we have them do it
three times already and so I don't know if that anticipation is so strong with
this one to see it live. You can watch a replay a week later; you can find all
sorts of ways to see this fight if you want to But our show, as always, is
being held up by local guys selling tickets and that's really what club shows
are all about and that's what boxing at its most elemental form is all about.
And yeah, these people are probably interested in supporting their friends and
see them fight and see their local hometown guy. We've got guys on the card who
can literally walk from their houses.”

The show, regardless of
anything else, must go on.

JAN 19TH

This will certainly be an
eventful date for boxing fans in the States. HBO has an attractive tripleheader
from the Theater at Madison Square Garden and Showtime has a telecast featuring
Devon Alexander's defense of his IBF welterweight belt versus the talented Kell
Brook. And then you have the card on NBCSN. Before all that, on back-to-back
weekends in December, CBS and NBC are showing live boxing.

For a dead sport, it sure
seems to get a lot of television exposure almost every weekend.

“It's certainly not dead in
my office,” says Duva, whose company has enjoyed a strong 2012. “We're crazy
busy here and I think it's fantastic that within seven days of each other,
there's going to be two fights on network broadcasts when we've waited 15 years
for it. So yeah, the more the merrier. I'm looking forward to the day when we
have broadcast shows competing at the same time on different networks.”

FLIP FLOP

OK, here's an email I
received on Monday morning in response to my column where I stated that Miguel
Cotto's loss squelched any chances of a Cinco de Mayo showdown with Saul “Canelo”
Alvarez:

Great
analogy! Bob Arum has a core group to count on with Saturday's fight, but I
don't see this one eclipsing 850,000 buys due not just to customer fatigue but
to the economy and Christmas season. This rivalry is more Ali-Norton than it is
Marquez-Vasquez or Limon-Chacon meaning that 3 is enough. Just to give you the
man on the street opinion (in NYC, anyway) everyone I've spoken to is passing
on this one. Regarding Cotto, it was an unnecessary loss that should be blamed
on management. Golden Boy has K9 Bundridge under contract who stylistically was
a better matchup for this version of Cotto. I say it here that Canelo-Cotto
takes place May 4 in Las Vegas and does well financially, just as
Morales-Pacquiao 2 took place (and was a box office success) on the heels of
Morales' loss to Zahir Raheem. The PR fans are as loyal as can be and the ones
I watched the fight with are still looking forward to that fight. Miguel
sounded like he had one foot in retirement prior to the fight, but his
uncharacteristic post fight anger and exit from the ring without the
customary post fight interview, leads me to believe he doesn't want to go
out like that. I agree with you that he's got serious mileage, and even in his
prime he fatigued in the championship rounds, but the Garden will be closed for
renovations during his customary PR Day Parade weekend and Canelo is his most
lucrative realistic opponent @ a time that he no longer is a sure thing against
any world class fighter. Just my two cents. Stay safe, Rob

Rob, you make some salient
points and you aren't the only email expressing this opinion about “Canelo”-Cotto.
And guess what? Call me Mitt Romney but I've flip-flopped on my opinion of this
fight taking place. Not only is there precedence (including Zab Judah facing Floyd
Mayweather immediately after losing to Carlos Baldomir) but pay-per-view is
about stars and appealing to public demand. This isn't about a network putting
up an exorbitant license fee for Andre Berto with no rhyme or reason. This
particular fight here will sell, regardless of the results of Saturday night.
Yeah, Austin Trout won the fight fair and square but there's nothing fair and
square about the boxing business. If you can sell, you get these opportunities
and sometimes losing, well...it doesn't matter all that much.

If
Golden Boy Promotions believes there is enough public support to go with “Canelo”
vs. Cotto and is willing to risk it financially, well, that's certainly their
prerogative. The consumer will make the decision if they want to support this
event. And early returns indicate there is still plenty of public support for
this fight.

FRIDAY FLURRIES

Duva notes that the other
scheduled dates for NBCSN are February 23rd, March 9th and June 14th. She notes their deal with the network has been
extended for two years...This telecast from Temple, which starts on Saturday
night at 10 p.m., ET, also features a bout between Jerry Belmontes and Eric
Hunter...Since this fight card is being held at Temple, will we see a rematch
between John Calipari and John Chaney? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51-4sJTf7iQ)...WealthTV
is doing another card this weekend; this time around, it's James DeGale against
Fulgencio Zuniga on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m., ET…Promoter Peter Rivera
tells me that Juan Manuel Lopez will make his return to the ring on February 2nd in Puerto Rico and they still hope to make the grudge match with Wilfredo
Vazquez Jr. in April...With Andre Ward injuring his shoulder, his fight with
Kelly Pavlik will be pushed back. I'm told one option for that January 26th date is to make it a “Boxing After Dark” date and keep the Chris Arreola-Bermane
Stiverne fight. Or they can just scrap it all together...Demetrius Andrade will
face Freddy Hernandez on the January 25th edition of “ShoBox”...So I
guess Peyton Hillis and Joe Thomas aren't BFFs, huh?.....30,000 points and
counting for Kobe Bean Bryant. No matter what you think of him, that's quite an
achievement...